@kimlockhartga@bookstodon
💬Victory Parade by Leela Corman is a masterwork
💬Gender Studies: True Confessions of an Accidental Outlaw by Ajuan Mance
💬All My Bicycles by Powerpaola
💬Malarky by November Garcia
💬Heavyweight by Solomon Brager
💬Here I am, I am me—a guide to mental health by Cara Bean
(Not a novel, a short story by myself: 💬Feather by Tyler Cohen)
@bookstodon and other avid readers, either I'm terrible at searching, or what I am looking for doesn't exist (in the U.S.)
I am interested in a print-only (no digital) adult graphic novel subscription service, not comics, and not the superhero stuff. Do I need to search by bookstores? Cratejoy is for the U.K. only, and I thought Panels would be perfect: quarterly, indie pubs, but I can only find their digital app. I would like physical copies, in a monthly or quarterly box subscription.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon and the nice thing about a local comic shop is once they get to know your preferences they often will tell you about forthcoming works by creators you have read in the past or similar works by newer creators. A lot of the individual issues/ graphic novels I am reading currently were via such recommendations. I pick them up in person but the store is just 15 mins away.
@bookstodon on this #WorldRefugeeDay I'd like to both list and solicit recommendations for books about refugees. With the deepening Climate Crisis, each of us could find ourselves in such a position at any time.
My rec's:
The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri
Illegal, Eoin Colfer
Welcome To The New World, Jake Halpern, Michael Sloan
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon that was the first one of hers I read, blew me away. I pretty much turned straight back to the start to read it again, and I never normally do that
I need to reorganize my fiction bookshelves. What system has worked best for you? I'm leaning towards going by author, though that leaves the question of how to treat anthologies. Maybe anthologies could be first, or shelved by the editor's name. Alphabetical by title (preceded by numbers) might work just as well as by author.
I had been doing them by height size, except for the graphic novels, which tend not to match any standard size.
These particular bookshelves are all fiction (except for graphic nonfiction) so organizing by subject seems unwieldy.
They currently have a $5.99 sale on fiction, and the sale titles are surprisingly popular.
On a related note, if you need a specific book, and want to do a price comparison across various sellers and conditions, I have found https://www.bookfinder.com to be very helpful.
Book Challenge: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #20Books Book One: @bookstodon
@bookstodon Maybe everyone already knows this, but in case you don't: there is a great way to search for library e-books you might like.
If you have Libby, do a filtered search for whatever you like in general. While perusing the results, tap on any book you have already read and enjoyed. Scroll down past the description, and it will give you suggestions of other books you might like. This really helped me.
This only works in filtered search, not direct search.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon I'm not opposed to getting recommendations, and I have found new favorites, but that usually comes from you or others I'm following on SM. Then I will investigate, but I don't feel the need to seek a "if you like X you should check out Y" sort of search. I have more than I will ever read already, a print library of at least 1500, maybe 1200 on Kindle, some of those being duplicates.
I'm currently reading Osamu Tezuka, considered to be the "Father of Manga." He was the creator of Astro Boy, and was thought of as the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney, who greatly influenced his style.
For whatever reason, I don't recall anyone having had recommended him to me, so I consider it great fortune to have stumbled upon him. I now want to read all of his stuff! What sets him apart for me is his great moral compass.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon curious if you read “Pluto” by Naoki urusawa. It’s a neo noir reimagining of the great robot arc and was done in cooperation with tekuzas son. I’m wondering how it compares to the original source material, since it’s one of the darker mangas I’ve read and Astro boy, to my knowledge, wasn’t.
@Bigtallguy@bookstodon I have not read the work you referenced, but I tell you what, I'm totally intrigued to read and compare. I just finished part I of Tezuka's Message to Adolf, and it is dark and violent, but equally emotional and meaningful. It's also super long, but it does not drag.
@bookstodon I have another great graphic memoir to recommend: Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story, by Sarah Myer.
Their message about belonging to one's true self as a radical act of courage and defiance, is powerful and palpable. Myer does not hold back in recounting the all-out assault that is bullying, and I'm glad they didn't leave out the absolute complicity of adults. The tone is one of hurt, but also of hope. Myer finds (relatively) safe haven and freedom of expression among the creatives. The arts can save people.
Since we are coming up on June, it seems like a good time to check in with everyone here on @bookstodon regarding favorite reads of 2024 so far. Whatcha got?
My top five reads of 2024 so far:
The Criminal series of graphic novels by Ed Brubaker (ten primary works)
@BramMeehan@kimlockhartga@bookstodon 'slow' is if anything an understatement; the central joke is Shandy's inability to make progress telling the story because of various distractions. 'Tedious' is in the eye of the beholder, but I think you do need some tolerance of the fact that not every 200+ year old joke and allusion is still going to make sense
@bookstodon Another really good graphic nonfiction book I've read recently, and recommend, is WE HEREBY REFUSE, regarding the Japanese-Americans forced into concentration camps in WWII.
The story addresses a common victim-blaming response to the plight of others: "Why didn't they fight back?" It's almost always the wrong question, even though indeed, they did fight back. Victim-blaming is a pernicious permission structure, allowing us not to care about terrible events that happen to other people.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon Most Japanese Americans & Asians (in US & outside of it) called them concentration camps - not internment camps. Colonial, racist governments called them internment camps in US & Canada but that's a dishonest word for them. Internment camps are for military personnel. Japanese & Asians(anyone who looked Japanese) were rounded up & imprisoned in colonial concentration camps. Many died in them.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon There are likely many who did try to oppose, and others who believed it was wrong but didn't know what to do, were afraid, or hopeless. All these stories would be good to study and learn from.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon There are worse things. Like FOMOOR.
(Fear of missing................Restaurants).
Which even has a subset FOMOOMSR (.....Michelin Star...)
@bookstodon Recently, Libby has changed (for me). I can no longer return an e-book directly through Libby, if I have sent it to my Kindle. I have to return it through Kindle. Is this also true of other e-book library services?
@kimlockhartga I noticed this too, it's irritating. But what would happen before is I'd return the book in Libby but it'd sit there "live" in my Amazon account until the original checkout time expired. I assumed this disparity was the reason for the change. @bookstodon
